Vanille Caviar, a sensual and literal approach to vanilla pods
BDK’s Vanille Caviar fragrance was one of the most wonderful surprises at the end of 2025. A completely unexpected vanilla creation, it is wildly sexy while paying homage to the nobility of the oily, sublime, untameable pod that grows in Madagascar, between the sea and the jungle. David Benedek, the founder of BDK, answers Valérie Donchez’s questions.
David Benedek, founder of BDK
Although vanilla has long been used as a base note in beautiful creations at BDK, it only became the star of the show in 2023 when Dominique Ropion created Vanille Leather for BDK’s Exclusive collection. The perfumer treated vanilla with the elegance of a grand salon, on velvet, full of sensuality.
With Vanille Caviar, the pod is raw, animalistic, a wild interpretation inspired by Soulages. A composition by Alexandra Carlin who went straight to the heart of the subject, the bestiality of the pod, to create an addictive fragrance.
We interviewed David Benedek, who created BDK on 23 June 2016, a name that corresponds to the initials of his surname.
INTERVIEW
What was the starting point for the creation of Vanille Caviar?
David Benedek: Vanille Caviar is our second creation based on vanilla, after Vanille Leather. I had wanted to work with this ingredient for several years with perfumer Alexandra Carlin, who, like me, had been captivated by a trip to Madagascar to discover how vanilla is produced. This desire to create a vanilla fragrance never left us. After five years of exploring this note, Vanille Caviar has finally come to fruition. We wanted to reveal vanilla in its rawest and most sensual form, getting as close as possible to the ingredient itself. Alexandra explored its grain in order to capture its full intensity. It is a completely different proposition from Vanille Leather, which is a more abstract and leathery interpretation of the material. Vanille Caviar is a sensual and literal approach to the pod, very natural, capable of expressing both sweetness and animalistic facets. It is precisely this duality that guided our work on this new fragrance.
Vanilla pods before harvesting in Madagascar
Why did you draw inspiration from Pierre Soulages?
Pierre Soulages is one of my favourite painters. I love the way he works with the colour black through layers of materials that create luminous reflections at the very heart of his monochromes. And I wanted to construct Vanille Caviar in the same way as a monochrome. Vanilla is revealed in all its complexity thanks to a CO2 extract and an absolute. Vanille Caviar is a fragrance in which the material becomes radiant thanks to vanilla that has been worked to the extreme, elevated to the rank of a noble material. An ‘Outrenoir’* vanilla, dense and textured, dark in appearance but vibrant and alive, just like these works of art.
BDK’s Vanille Caviar fragrance was created by perfumer Alexandra Carlin
You are passionate about beautiful materials. Tell us about your relationship with vanilla, your most memorable childhood and adult memories, the first vanilla fragrance that made an impression on you, the most recent one?
Vanilla has always been one of my favourite materials. I am fascinated by its preciousness, its evocation of comfort, its warmth and, of course, its animal sensuality. It is a very versatile ingredient: it can play a central role in a creation, as in Vanille Caviar, or serve as a link between the other materials in a formula, bringing coherence, softness and roundness. It also reminds me of my trip to Madagascar in 2017, where I had the chance to visit plantations and discover vanilla in its purest and most natural form. Vanille Caviar is a sensual and literal approach to the pod, very natural, capable of expressing both sweetness and animalistic facets. It is precisely this duality that guided our work on this fragrance.
Dried vanilla pods from Madagascar
You went to Madagascar to discover this vanilla. Does discovering the culture of a raw material change your relationship with it when you then consider it in a creation?
Indeed. Discovering these freshly split pods, experiencing this ingredient in its rawest form, was a magical moment. Alexandra and I were able to see the heart of the material. We observed the squares of pods lined up as they dried in the sun. We were able to grasp the craftsmanship behind this local crop, a memory that leaves an indelible mark on our hearts. When we discovered these black seeds, this vanilla caviar, which spill out when the pod is split open, we wanted to offer a raw and intimate expression of that moment, to capture vanilla in its most natural state.
* Outrenoir, as defined by artist Pierre Soulages, is a mental field beyond simple black, beyond boundaries or fixed ideas.
